Utah State’s basketball coach ‘would have sent you to the psych ward’ if you told him about this

Let’s make one thing clear, this isn’t the team Danny Sprinkle watched practice all summer. This isn’t even the team Sprinkle watched all fall.

Back then, if you pulled Utah State’s head coach aside and told him this group of Aggies was about to start 11-1, he would have laughed you out of the gym.

This team?

The one that didn’t have any returning production and didn’t have a set roster until June?

“I would have sent you to the psych ward,” Sprinkle said.

Yet, as the calendar creeps to January, that is where the Aggies are. At first, it was blowout wins against schools outside the top 200. South Dakota Mines, Saint Louis, San Diego. Then it was close wins against the middle of the pack. Akron, UC Irvine, Santa Clara. And now, after a 54-53 win over San Francisco, it begs the question: Is this Sprinkle team ready to keep surprising us?

Saturday wasn’t a resounding yes. It couldn’t be when USU shot 9.5% from three and struggled to get to 50 points.

But the fact that USU took down another top-70 KenPom team, its first top-50 NET team, it at least makes you wonder. Can Sprinkle make this group competitive in the Mountain West?

“Defensively, that was probably the best team we played,” Sprinkle said. “... They are top 20 in all defensive measures for a reason. They have length. They have quickness. ... But talk about a toughness win. A grimy, gritty win. That is how we have to do it.”

For USU to be in this position at all is shocking. When Sprinkle got the job last April, he saw a mass exodus through the transfer portal. Utah State lost every point of its production from 2023. Only Northwestern and New Mexico State could say the same.

It wasn’t just the scoring either. Utah State returned less than 1% of its assists and rebounds. In terms of minutes continuity, it ranked 349th in the country (0.01%).

It was a rebuild down to the studs. And Sprinkle was still juggling getting players to sign as late as June 21 (when starter Ian Martinez joined the fold).

Because of that, Sprinkle didn’t necessarily see how this would work in those summer months. His team wasn’t as tough as he wanted them to be. He knew there were deficiencies and he needed his group to make up for it in some way.

“We are way tougher [today] than we were in the summer,” Sprinkle said. “I firmly believe, I know, you can coach toughness. Even guys who may not be that tough, you can make them tough. I knew that is what this group had to do to have a chance to be successful.”

And when they play now, it still looks like a team that hasn’t played together much.

Take Saturday for an example. Utah State had a nearly eight-minute stretch in the second half during which it did not score from the field. There were five stretches during which USU went over two and a half minutes without a bucket front the floor. Essentially, the Aggies spent almost 17 of the 40 minutes being completely lifeless on offense.

USU was missing open shots. It went 2-of-21 from three. But other times the lack of production was a byproduct of a new team: A lack of movement, a lack of spacing that comes along with learning a new system and new teammates.

“Sometimes we stand around,” Sprinkle said, admitting he needs to clean that up.

But even with that being said, Utah State found a way — which might embody this start to the season.

It went on a 10-0 spurt at one point, getting eight of those points from the line. And when the game was in the balance, it flipped a layup in by Kalifa Sakho to go up 54-53. Even he was unsure how it went in.

“Man, I don’t know,” he said.

Like this start, it doesn’t seem that anybody is sure how it is happening.

There will be bigger tests in the future as conference play starts in January. Sprinkle knows what is coming. But for now, he is off to the best start by any first-year coach in USU history.

With the team he was watching in the summer, he is more shocked than anyone.